Day One
Today I begin a series of daily reflections on the Prayer of St. Francis.
My job takes me to Amarillo, Texas at least once a month. In May-June, I went weekly. It’s a five-hour drive from my home in Santa Fe, so I decided I would listen to an audio book or two each trip. On one trip, I listened to “I Can See Clearly Now”, by Dr. Wayne Dyer. He reflects on his life, now that he is in his seventies and was recently diagnosed with leukemia. One of the most impactful and emotional lessons I gained from listening to the book was the impact of St. Francis of Assisi on his life, and some phenomenal experiences he had while visiting St. Francis’ home in Assisi. I decided I would closely examine the Prayer of St. Francis and incorporate it into my life. I found it online, printed out several copies so I would have one on the wall in my work office, one in my home office, and one in my planner book. So here it is, line by line.
“Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.”
Almost fifty years ago, I sang in my school choir. We sang “Let There Be Peace on Earth, and Let it Begin with Me.” It was a beautiful song, and I loved the alto part that I sang. But the words didn’t resonate with my 14-year old mind as much as the music. At the time, the Viet Nam War was gearing up, looming on our generation like a chemical cloud working its way to unsuspecting villagers. We knew it was there, we knew it was toxic, we knew it would be life-changing. But it was out there on the horizon. Around the country and the world, people were protesting and hippies seemed to use the war as a convenient excuse to take LSD and smoke pot. The local anti-war sentiment seemed shallow and trite. I was more concerned with cheerleading, singing, and making grades that were high enough to get me into college on a scholarship.
I graduated in 1970, and 44 years later I still haven’t personally experienced the war. But I see clearly now how one individual can be an instrument of peace. With letters to decision-makers, care packages to soldiers, voting (and not voting) with my dollars in the marketplace, I can make a difference. I can be an instrument of Peace.
Saturday, October 18, 2014
Re-Creating My Blog
Today is October 18, 2014, and today I re-create the blog that I have let flounder for 5 years. I have been blogging in SparkPeople, but today I begin posting my blogs in a more public setting. I also begin my professional identity as a budding life coach. I will begin with re-posting a series of blogs I created as I reflected on the Prayer of St. Francis, line by line. As I begin this journey, as I do for every journey, I pray for wisdom and discernment.
Monday, January 19, 2009
The Gift of Time
“Time is an equal opportunity employer. Each human being has exactly the same number of hours and minutes every day. Rich people can't buy more hours. Scientists can't invent new minutes. And you can't save time to spend it on another day. Even so, time is amazingly fair and forgiving. No matter how much time you've wasted in the past, you still have an entire tomorrow.” ~Denis Waitely
In January, many folks have rituals they perform – make a resolution or two for the year; evaluate the past year in a journal and plan the next; burn something to symbolize closure of a difficult year. I’m not much for ritual, nor do I spend a lot of time evaluating the past, other than mining the gold nuggets from my experiences. I did continue my daily habit of gratitude and, in reviewing the year, I extended that to gratitude for the blessings I received in 2008.
When I came upon this quote, it summarized an exercise I had done when I was doing my gold mining a couple of weeks ago. So what happens to my time? Let’s see – there are 24 hours in a day, 168 hours in 7 days. Work and the commute comprise 50 hours. Sleep takes up 49 hours. Morning preparation (critter care, mostly) and dinnertime takes 21 hours. I devote about 16 hours to quality time with Maggie and my family, and another 8 hours on maintaining the house. So that’s 50 + 49 + 21 + 16 + 8 = 144 hours. That leaves 24 hours a week, 1,248 hours in a year. That’s more than a half-time job! I had some project time, like the Halloween party and my Christmas baking, but that certainly didn’t take 1,200 hours. So knowing that I have 1,248 hours at my disposal, it is time to work on my “entire tomorrow”.
In my last blog edition, I talked about reading, and someone responded that she has no time to read. For many, that’s very true – our lives fill up with chores and conversations and other snippets of time consumption. Life for many is a sleep-eat-work cycle, with month after month passing in a flash. For me, it’s critical that I continue to grow and learn, but it is a function of the “how” I read within the context of time. I don’t sit down with a book very often, and I don’t spend much time with the newspaper in the morning. I do, however, listen to books while I am cleaning my house, working on my prayer shawls (more about that in another blog), tending to my garden, or shoveling snow. I listen to at least ten minutes of a book every evening before I meditate myself to sleep.
My iPod is a wonderful gadget! And with free podcasts to supplement the audio books, it’s not even expensive. No bells and whistles and keypads and touch screens – just good, old-fashioned listening. Sure I listen to music, but I mostly listen to audio books – over 25 books last year. It’s like the days of the transistor radios – pretty cutting edge back then! When I mentioned how much I use my iPod, a co-worker commented about how she just isn’t techie enough, and how the mp3 players are for young kids and folks who are running on the treadmill at the gym. I lent her my iPod for a couple of lunch hours, and she is now hooked.
Lessons learned? I will continue growing and learning and feeding my brain cells with the nutrients of words and knowledge. Multi-tasking is perfectly suited to this goal. And I still have 1,200 hours in my time bank – what a wonderful gift, this gift of time!
In January, many folks have rituals they perform – make a resolution or two for the year; evaluate the past year in a journal and plan the next; burn something to symbolize closure of a difficult year. I’m not much for ritual, nor do I spend a lot of time evaluating the past, other than mining the gold nuggets from my experiences. I did continue my daily habit of gratitude and, in reviewing the year, I extended that to gratitude for the blessings I received in 2008.
When I came upon this quote, it summarized an exercise I had done when I was doing my gold mining a couple of weeks ago. So what happens to my time? Let’s see – there are 24 hours in a day, 168 hours in 7 days. Work and the commute comprise 50 hours. Sleep takes up 49 hours. Morning preparation (critter care, mostly) and dinnertime takes 21 hours. I devote about 16 hours to quality time with Maggie and my family, and another 8 hours on maintaining the house. So that’s 50 + 49 + 21 + 16 + 8 = 144 hours. That leaves 24 hours a week, 1,248 hours in a year. That’s more than a half-time job! I had some project time, like the Halloween party and my Christmas baking, but that certainly didn’t take 1,200 hours. So knowing that I have 1,248 hours at my disposal, it is time to work on my “entire tomorrow”.
In my last blog edition, I talked about reading, and someone responded that she has no time to read. For many, that’s very true – our lives fill up with chores and conversations and other snippets of time consumption. Life for many is a sleep-eat-work cycle, with month after month passing in a flash. For me, it’s critical that I continue to grow and learn, but it is a function of the “how” I read within the context of time. I don’t sit down with a book very often, and I don’t spend much time with the newspaper in the morning. I do, however, listen to books while I am cleaning my house, working on my prayer shawls (more about that in another blog), tending to my garden, or shoveling snow. I listen to at least ten minutes of a book every evening before I meditate myself to sleep.
My iPod is a wonderful gadget! And with free podcasts to supplement the audio books, it’s not even expensive. No bells and whistles and keypads and touch screens – just good, old-fashioned listening. Sure I listen to music, but I mostly listen to audio books – over 25 books last year. It’s like the days of the transistor radios – pretty cutting edge back then! When I mentioned how much I use my iPod, a co-worker commented about how she just isn’t techie enough, and how the mp3 players are for young kids and folks who are running on the treadmill at the gym. I lent her my iPod for a couple of lunch hours, and she is now hooked.
Lessons learned? I will continue growing and learning and feeding my brain cells with the nutrients of words and knowledge. Multi-tasking is perfectly suited to this goal. And I still have 1,200 hours in my time bank – what a wonderful gift, this gift of time!
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Metamorphosis
The best years of your life are the ones in which you decide your problems are your own. You do not blame them on your mother, the ecology, or the president. You realize that you are in control of your own destiny. – Dr. Albert Ellis
(Written in October 2008, but posted in January 2009.) I have not updated this blog for several months. Perhaps this is because I have gone through another metamorphosis, like a butterfly going through its development, shedding its chrysalis when another season of warmth permeates the outer senses and it emerges, beautiful and free.
This is “Pat’s Passions”, and I write about what makes me passionate, what makes me happy, what makes me grateful, what brings me bliss. In the Spring of 2008 I was not very passionate, I must confess. I had vowed to remain in my job at Women’s Health Services until retirement, but I knew, I just knew, that the Universe was sending me a message.
I read a lot – or rather, I listen to a lot of books. My Ipod is one of the most critical tools in my life toolbox. During the past year, I read at least 25 books (some of which had several sections). I’ll write about that sometime. Four books and two beautiful persons had a profound impact during this time of introspection and metamorphosis: The Speed of Trust: The One Thing that Changes Everything by Stephen M.R. Covey, The Secret by Rhonda Byrnes, Happy for No Reason by Marci Shimoff, and The Passion Test by Janet and Chris Attwood. The beautiful people were my Life Coach, Carolyn Tjoland, and, of course, Maggie.
The Speed of Trust is what started my journey. Covey is the son of Stephen Covey of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People fame. In sharing what I learned from the book with my peers at work, I opened a Pandora’s Box of feelings and interactions that had good and bad consequences, depending on how “ready” the individual was to trust and be trusted. Radical changes began to take place, a gradual evolution over two years that culminated in a crisis of trust among my peers and my superiors. I read and re-read the book, focusing on my trustworthiness, and saw more of my path.
Much has been said about The Secret, good and bad. That’s a matter of personal judgment. In my personal judgment, I “got” the message of the three-step process of the Law of Attraction: Ask, Believe, and Receive. I “got” that thoughts become things: negative thoughts perpetuate negative consequences, positive thoughts perpetuate positive consequences. I “got” that I was focusing on how unhappy and toxic my worklife had becoming, and that was perpetuating the unhappiness and toxicity. I turned off that negative switch, and turned on the positive one. I put it out there, OK, Universe, these are my passions, light a path, close a door and open a window. New work opportunities appeared. Several opportunities came and I knew, I just knew, that the right one was on the horizon, and with a calm self-assuredness, I turned away from some opportunities. My current job at the Bureau of Land Management then appeared in my path and I was selected. There are no coincidences, just moments of grace.
In reading Happy for No Reason, I “got” the message that we can be happy for good reasons (such as hearing a joke, or having a happy life event), and happy for bad reasons (such as from substances such as drugs or alcohol, or laughing at other peoples’ misfortunes), but we must transcend to the level of just being happy – happy for no reason. It’s all a matter of perspective, gratitude, recognizing the good in every person and circumstance, and taking personal responsibility for my own happiness. It was then that the quote in the beginning of this blog came my way. I heeded the advice and took control. Moments of grace continued.
The Passion Test asks you to complete the sentence, “When my life is ideal, I am (fill in the blank).” For example, “When my life is ideal, I am inspiring others with my love of writing” or “I am feeling healthy, fit and energetic”. Starting with a list of these sentences, you look at the sentences and ask yourself, what am I more passionate about? You keep whittling it down until you have a list of the four or five sentences that reflect your strongest passions. I took the test, and found my passions. That will be the subject of another blog. I realized that my new life – my new job, my new circumstances, could become infused with my passions…oh, wow.
Carolyn Tjoland is an amazing woman – a highly competent behavioral health therapist who is also a Life Coach. I worked with her at Women’s Health Services and believed she could help me organize my journey. Normally, life coaching is done over the phone, but Carolyn graciously invited me into her home; it was warm and comfortable, but with the necessary structure to accomplish our purpose. I only had to work with her for a few sessions before I had the clarity and vision of what I could be and where my pathway was located. I created a Vision Board with pictures and words of my passions, made it into a screen saver, and put it on all of my computers to remind me and keep me focused.
To follow my new path, I had to make a transition. In Transitions, I learned the difference between change and transition. You change a light bulb, but you don’t change your life. You transition into the new phase of your life (job, relationship, home, healthy body, etc.) by recognizing there are three steps: an ending, a neutral phase, and a beginning. I had read this book the previous year, but I took it out and re-read it when I left my old job and prepared for my new one. I took two weeks off in August 2008 between jobs and used that period as the neutral time to prepare for the new beginning. I acknowledged the ending, redefined negative circumstances to positive, and embraced the potential of the new beginning. I felt liberated and blissful.
Monday, June 16, 2008
On Father's Day, Men's Health ... and Passion for Family
Last Friday, Tim Russert died. It was a shock - to think that such a young man could die so suddenly, and from such a common malady. In the three days that have passed since he died, I've had time to think -- as so many of you have done. My thoughts collected around two categories: Men's Health and Father's Day.
My father had a heart attack at about the same age as Tim Russert, maybe younger, but he survived it. My brother-in-law Paul did, too. Maggie's father died of heart disease. Yesterday was also Father's Day - it's been almost 35 years since Cristobal Sanchez died in 1973 and 8 years since Byron Smith died, and Father's Day still hurts. But the good news was that we spent a wonderful, sunny, loving day in Rio Rancho celebrating Father's Day with Paul.
Like women, heart disease is the number one cause of death for men. Studies say that men have a 49% risk of developing coronary heart disease after the age of 40; half of men who have a heart attack before age 65 die within 8 years; between 70% and 89% of sudden cardiac events occur in men. All very dry statistics (from the CDC), but when a loved one or a famous person is the statistic, it's real and (pardon the pun) heart-wrenching.
The sad part about all this is how preventable heart disease is, for both men and women. In a large study of blood pressure treatment and control, an average reduction of 12 to 13 mm Hg in systolic blood pressure (the top number) over 4 years of follow-up was associated with a 21% reduction in coronary heart disease, 37% reduction in stroke, and 13% reduction in all-cause death rates; a 10% decrease in total cholesterol levels may reduce the development of coronary heart disease by as much as 30%. More dry statistics. But the reality, however, is that men don't generally believe in prevention - they want their chicharron burritos, their double quarter-pounder with cheese and bacon, their 4-egg breakfast burrito with papas and bacon and cheese, their Taco Bell. They consider a 5,000-calorie meal as a "man size meal", or a reward for a stressful day at work. As women, we join in the feast, so our rates of obesity are soaring, along with our rates of death from heart disease. Visits to family physicians happen after an event has taken place, and then only when someone else makes the appointment. I've been in the business of primary health care for most of the last 25 years - the vast majority of our patients are women, and most of today's appointments are not preventive in nature.
I have four brothers, three brothers-in-law, and a whole slew of adult nephews. One of my passions is caring about my family - I am hereby asking all of my family members, especially the women, to care about the men in our lives. If they haven't had a physical in the last year, encourage them to make the appointment today -- or make the call yourself, if that's what it takes. Encourage exercise and healthy eating. If you do the grocery shopping, buy fresh vegetables and fruits; if you do the cooking and serving, plan time to cook from scratch, and shrink the serving sizes. When you go out to eat, ask for a take-out container before you start eating. Finally, provide opportunities to relieve the stress of the day so our men can relax and sleep well.
Let's observe Father's Day 2009 with our family intact.
My father had a heart attack at about the same age as Tim Russert, maybe younger, but he survived it. My brother-in-law Paul did, too. Maggie's father died of heart disease. Yesterday was also Father's Day - it's been almost 35 years since Cristobal Sanchez died in 1973 and 8 years since Byron Smith died, and Father's Day still hurts. But the good news was that we spent a wonderful, sunny, loving day in Rio Rancho celebrating Father's Day with Paul.
Like women, heart disease is the number one cause of death for men. Studies say that men have a 49% risk of developing coronary heart disease after the age of 40; half of men who have a heart attack before age 65 die within 8 years; between 70% and 89% of sudden cardiac events occur in men. All very dry statistics (from the CDC), but when a loved one or a famous person is the statistic, it's real and (pardon the pun) heart-wrenching.
The sad part about all this is how preventable heart disease is, for both men and women. In a large study of blood pressure treatment and control, an average reduction of 12 to 13 mm Hg in systolic blood pressure (the top number) over 4 years of follow-up was associated with a 21% reduction in coronary heart disease, 37% reduction in stroke, and 13% reduction in all-cause death rates; a 10% decrease in total cholesterol levels may reduce the development of coronary heart disease by as much as 30%. More dry statistics. But the reality, however, is that men don't generally believe in prevention - they want their chicharron burritos, their double quarter-pounder with cheese and bacon, their 4-egg breakfast burrito with papas and bacon and cheese, their Taco Bell. They consider a 5,000-calorie meal as a "man size meal", or a reward for a stressful day at work. As women, we join in the feast, so our rates of obesity are soaring, along with our rates of death from heart disease. Visits to family physicians happen after an event has taken place, and then only when someone else makes the appointment. I've been in the business of primary health care for most of the last 25 years - the vast majority of our patients are women, and most of today's appointments are not preventive in nature.
I have four brothers, three brothers-in-law, and a whole slew of adult nephews. One of my passions is caring about my family - I am hereby asking all of my family members, especially the women, to care about the men in our lives. If they haven't had a physical in the last year, encourage them to make the appointment today -- or make the call yourself, if that's what it takes. Encourage exercise and healthy eating. If you do the grocery shopping, buy fresh vegetables and fruits; if you do the cooking and serving, plan time to cook from scratch, and shrink the serving sizes. When you go out to eat, ask for a take-out container before you start eating. Finally, provide opportunities to relieve the stress of the day so our men can relax and sleep well.
Let's observe Father's Day 2009 with our family intact.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Living a passionate life - my mission statement
"The key to the ability to change is a changeless sense of who you are, what you are about and what you value." -Stephen R. Covey
From 2002-2004, I had the wonderful priviledge of working with Dr. Alfredo Vigil, now the Secretary of Health for the State of New Mexico, and previously the CEO of Health Centers of Northern New Mexico (now El Centro Family Health). He had been a friend and mentor for many years prior to my little sojourn at Health Centers, and I always admired his skill at managing the many roles he had, professional and personal. When we worked together at Health Centers, he asked each of his Leadership Team members to adopt the Franklin Planner system of time management. The system is a part of Steven Covey's "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People". As part of adopting the system into my life, I wrote a mission statement. When I left Health Centers to accept my current position at Women's Health Services, I brought the Franklin system with me, and our Leadership Team also adopted the Seven Habits. Each of us wrote our mission statement, or took out our old mission statement and re-committed to it. Since my life had evolved in just the three years since I first went through the exercise, I took the opportunity to examine my "today", and settled on the theme of my life as a journey. Here is my mission statement:
In my Journey through Life, I will:
Travel light - getting rid of excess emotional and physical baggage
Take someone with me - cherishing friendship and family
Take the high road - forgiving quickly
Follow the roadmap - knowing where I am and where I’m going
Stop to ask for directions - seeking credible advice
Appreciate the detours - learning from my mistakes and recognizing that problems are a part of life
Take pictures - creating memories along the way and then stopping every now and then to remember those special times
Go the extra mile - keeping my commitments
Stop to smell the roses - enjoying life in the here and now, and experience every moment of every day.
From 2002-2004, I had the wonderful priviledge of working with Dr. Alfredo Vigil, now the Secretary of Health for the State of New Mexico, and previously the CEO of Health Centers of Northern New Mexico (now El Centro Family Health). He had been a friend and mentor for many years prior to my little sojourn at Health Centers, and I always admired his skill at managing the many roles he had, professional and personal. When we worked together at Health Centers, he asked each of his Leadership Team members to adopt the Franklin Planner system of time management. The system is a part of Steven Covey's "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People". As part of adopting the system into my life, I wrote a mission statement. When I left Health Centers to accept my current position at Women's Health Services, I brought the Franklin system with me, and our Leadership Team also adopted the Seven Habits. Each of us wrote our mission statement, or took out our old mission statement and re-committed to it. Since my life had evolved in just the three years since I first went through the exercise, I took the opportunity to examine my "today", and settled on the theme of my life as a journey. Here is my mission statement:
In my Journey through Life, I will:
Travel light - getting rid of excess emotional and physical baggage
Take someone with me - cherishing friendship and family
Take the high road - forgiving quickly
Follow the roadmap - knowing where I am and where I’m going
Stop to ask for directions - seeking credible advice
Appreciate the detours - learning from my mistakes and recognizing that problems are a part of life
Take pictures - creating memories along the way and then stopping every now and then to remember those special times
Go the extra mile - keeping my commitments
Stop to smell the roses - enjoying life in the here and now, and experience every moment of every day.
Living a passionate life - Simple living
About six years ago, I decided to simplify my life. Being a Virgo (September 3), I hate clutter and disorganization. Moreover, I had accepted a job that required a 30-minute commute , so I needed the extra time in the morning.
Clothes maven: My almost 30 years of business living had provided me with a closet full of two and three piece suits, dresses for different occasions, a rainbow of blouses, a drawer full of panty hose, at least eight pairs of dress and casual shoes, a jewelry box full of earrings and pins and watches - and that was just for work. I also had my weekend attire of jeans, shorts, and warm-ups, t-shirts, polo shirts, and running shoes. Of course, all of this (business and casual) was in fat and thin sizes, depending on my pre- or post-diet status.
Collections: For the last 20 years I had collected things: over 100 snow globes that now filled a complete glass display case, over 150 mugs that stretched across the buffet shelf in the dining room, books of various genres that filled three bookcases in the den and two bookcases in the home office. Those collections joined Maggie's collections of troll dolls, video games, guitars, and other hobbies.
How could I make my life more simple and uncluttered? Like my penchant for organization, the process of simplification also had to be simple and orderly and efficient.
I read a couple of books and magazine articles, taking the best ideas from what I read. I did alot of soul-searching: Could I part with the "things" that each meant something important at the time of their acquisition? Did I care what others thought about how I looked? Was it important for me to wear a business "uniform" to be successful - the old "dress for success" standard? Was there enough value (either monetary or sentimental) in these things, such that they actually defined me, and would diminish my own value if they were no longer a part of my life? Almost every day brought me an epiphany on these questions. The result was a transformation that is still in process, but has made a phenomenal difference in my body, mind, spirit, and emotion.
Clothing: Men (at least the majority of "common", non-GQ men living here in the Southwest) have it best: they have one pair of dress shoes, maybe two; one dress suit, maybe two, that they wear for special occasions only; shirts that double as dress shirts and work shirts; polo shirts; and limited accessories. If they could get away with wearing the same t-shirt every evening after work for a week and through the weekend, they would. They don't want to have to match socks and shirts. I liked that - I liked that very much. So I decided on a basic wardrobe that would fill one small rack each season, and from which I could select my clothes to wear without thinking:
Clothes maven: My almost 30 years of business living had provided me with a closet full of two and three piece suits, dresses for different occasions, a rainbow of blouses, a drawer full of panty hose, at least eight pairs of dress and casual shoes, a jewelry box full of earrings and pins and watches - and that was just for work. I also had my weekend attire of jeans, shorts, and warm-ups, t-shirts, polo shirts, and running shoes. Of course, all of this (business and casual) was in fat and thin sizes, depending on my pre- or post-diet status.
Collections: For the last 20 years I had collected things: over 100 snow globes that now filled a complete glass display case, over 150 mugs that stretched across the buffet shelf in the dining room, books of various genres that filled three bookcases in the den and two bookcases in the home office. Those collections joined Maggie's collections of troll dolls, video games, guitars, and other hobbies.
How could I make my life more simple and uncluttered? Like my penchant for organization, the process of simplification also had to be simple and orderly and efficient.
I read a couple of books and magazine articles, taking the best ideas from what I read. I did alot of soul-searching: Could I part with the "things" that each meant something important at the time of their acquisition? Did I care what others thought about how I looked? Was it important for me to wear a business "uniform" to be successful - the old "dress for success" standard? Was there enough value (either monetary or sentimental) in these things, such that they actually defined me, and would diminish my own value if they were no longer a part of my life? Almost every day brought me an epiphany on these questions. The result was a transformation that is still in process, but has made a phenomenal difference in my body, mind, spirit, and emotion.
Clothing: Men (at least the majority of "common", non-GQ men living here in the Southwest) have it best: they have one pair of dress shoes, maybe two; one dress suit, maybe two, that they wear for special occasions only; shirts that double as dress shirts and work shirts; polo shirts; and limited accessories. If they could get away with wearing the same t-shirt every evening after work for a week and through the weekend, they would. They don't want to have to match socks and shirts. I liked that - I liked that very much. So I decided on a basic wardrobe that would fill one small rack each season, and from which I could select my clothes to wear without thinking:
- pants only (no skirts and therefore no panty hose);
- my pants would have to match a limited number of tops (blouses and plain tops), so I settled on two pairs of black trousers and one pair of simple plaid light-wool trousers;
- four or five tops/blouses per season, in a rotation, with three or four sweater sets for the winter and three or four polo shirts for the summer;
- black trouser socks - I could grab a pair from the sock drawer and they would automatically match whatever I was wearing for the day;
- three pairs of shoes: one pair of black walking shoes for work and special occasions, one pair of white walking shoes for the evening and weekend, and one pair of slippers;
- no jewelry except my watch - in the last year I began wearing my own beaded earrings, since I sell them, and Maggie gave me some special earrings - but I have kept those to a few pairs in one small display.
So simple! I love it! I packed up my suits and dresses and shoes and jewelry and took them to the thrift shop - that year's charitable donation was phenomenal!
Things: The collections are still on display, but I have not added to them. Sometimes a friend will give me a snow globe for Christmas, but for the most part, the snow globe and mug collections have not grown. Now when I am asked what I want for my birthday, I ask for experiences that will result in memories that I will keep forever - a special dinner or lunch, a special concert, a day-trip or picnic. following the tips in the simplification books, I boxed up my books and other things and put them in unmarked boxes in the garage. After a year, since I hadn't needed anything in them, the boxes went to Goodwill.
I am grateful for the simple life I live now: for the people who love me and want my company for who I am, not for what I wear or how I look; for the limited but meaningful things I possess; for the memories embedded in my everyday experiences; for the job that allows me to make a difference in my community, without requiring me to wear a corporate uniform. Such is my new simple but passionate life.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)